Preview — Six Good Innings
by Mark Kreidler

Six Good Innings: How One Small Town Became a Little League Giant

In the tradition of Friday Night Lights comes an unforgettable portrait of a small New Jersey town that became known throughout the world for the remarkable exploits of its Little League stars.

Summertime in Toms River means two things: tourists and champions. The tourists head for the beaches; the 12-year-old Little League champions can be found on the baseball diamonds, w

In the tradition of Friday Night Lights comes an unforgettable portrait of a small New Jersey town that became known throughout the world for the remarkable exploits of its Little League stars.

Summertime in Toms River means two things: tourists and champions. The tourists head for the beaches; the 12-year-old Little League champions can be found on the baseball diamonds, where they win titles at the local, regional, and international levels.

The Toms River dynasty began in the 1990s, when the team made it to the Little League World Series three times in five years and brought home a historic world championship victory in 1998. But with each passing summer in Toms River comes renewed pressure, as the latest collection of All-Stars strives to leave its mark on the town's imposing baseball legacy.

In Six Good Innings, acclaimed sportswriter Mark Kreidler deftly illuminates the sometimes tense relationship between Toms River and the team that carries the town's hopes and dreams. Following the most recent juggernaut through one tumultuous All-Star season, Kreidler chronicles how the coach, John Puleo, works to strike a balance between healthy competition and bloodless ambition, and how the players themselves reckon with their own fleeting fame as they tumble headlong into adolescence.

Puleo, a man with a gift for inspiring young athletes, commands a team whose recent string of successes has led to speculation that this might be the squad to extend the Toms River tradition of reaching Williamsport, site of the Little League World Series. But along the path to glory, Puleo's players will deal with unexpected injuries, a brutally difficult schedule of games, and the daunting knowledge that they have been identified throughout their region—and within the neighborhood blocks of their own baseball-crazy town—as the team to beat.

With deep empathy, incisive reporting, and intimate access, Kreidler weaves the stories of the coaches, the parents, the fans, and the true boys of summer into a memorable tableau....more

Community Reviews

This is a good book to get a taste of competitive Little League. However, a taste is all you are going to get. The author is used to doing quick sound bites on ESPN and writing mini articles in magazines. This book could have been longer and probably should have been. The beginning part of it is rather boring. It details the town and the Little League system of Toms River. After the book gets through that then it details what the 1995-99 teams have won in the past. I thought the reader would getThis is a good book to get a taste of competitive Little League. However, a taste is all you are going to get. The author is used to doing quick sound bites on ESPN and writing mini articles in magazines. This book could have been longer and probably should have been. The beginning part of it is rather boring. It details the town and the Little League system of Toms River. After the book gets through that then it details what the 1995-99 teams have won in the past. I thought the reader would get to know those players but instead the author talks to the coach of those teams. That was fine with me if he would have continued to be part of the book but the author just drops him. I would have loved to hear the World Series winning coach of the 1998 team tell us his views on the team that the book follows. About halfway through the book you are introduced to the current 2007 team that the reader will be following. I loved reading about the players and their coaches. I wish he would have followed all of them through their Little League season, the will they get picked or won't they get picked of the All Star selection, the politics behind the selections and the 12 practices before their first game. The author mentions these events but doesn't really detail them. I wanted to feel what the players felt, what their parents felt and what the coach was thinking. He does a little better job once the district tournament starts. The reader definitely gets details on the injuries and the thoughts of the players and the coaches. If the author would have wrote the whole book like he did the last chapter or two then this would have been a great book. I would have recommended it to any sports reader, not just teens and adults. However, I can't do that because of the beginning. It's not a bad read but it's just not as good as it could be. ...more

ISBN 006147357X - Any parent or player who's given up summer after summer for baseball, in any youth baseball program, not just Little League, is bound to recognize something of themselves and the players they've known in this book. That, alone, makes it an interesting read for that audience. The author's style of storytelling, unfortunately, doesn't seem likely to attract a wider readership.

Toms River's All Stars, having made their way to the Show in 1995, 1998 and 1999 with Mike Gaynor, have sISBN 006147357X - Any parent or player who's given up summer after summer for baseball, in any youth baseball program, not just Little League, is bound to recognize something of themselves and the players they've known in this book. That, alone, makes it an interesting read for that audience. The author's style of storytelling, unfortunately, doesn't seem likely to attract a wider readership.

Toms River's All Stars, having made their way to the Show in 1995, 1998 and 1999 with Mike Gaynor, have set a precedent for all the teams to come and the 2007 team, coached by John Puleo, is fired up and ready to follow in their footsteps - and return the title of Little League World Champs to their town. The book attempts to document all four teams' roads to Williamsport and fails to do any of the stories real justice.

Kreidler begins with a cliffhanger glimpse at the end of the story, such an over-used technique that it deserves an eyeroll. Had he then told a story in chronological order, the book would easily have overcome that, but he didn't. The story skips around from 2006 to 1995 to 1998 to 2007... over and over. It's disconcerting but perhaps intentional, to bolster the idea that Toms River is just cranking out the ballplayers.

While there's something to that, no fan of the game can fail to recognize that the successes of the town's Little League All-Star programs only happen under the guidance of specific coaches. This is no magical little town that's been sprinkled with MLB dust: it is clearly the hands of Gaynor and Puleo, two coaches almost a decade apart, that guide the boys to victory. Even that story would have made an interesting tale. As it is, Kreidler seems to buy into the improbable idea that Toms River itself is the single common denominator, seemingly determined to overlook the fact that, in hands other than Gaynor's or Puleo's, Toms River's All Star teams seem to be fairly average.

A surprising inability to give any of the players individual personalities, coupled with Kreidler's habit of starting a portion of the story in one decade and suddenly talking about another, has all the players periodically blending into a sort of generic "baseball kid" through much of the book. Another hundred pages and a little more detail would, perhaps, have turned out a more read-able, in depth, tale.

In all, an average book for the writing, a just-above average book for the story, Six Good Innings will appeal to fans and survivors of youth baseball, specifically, and less so to baseball fans in general.

Title: Six Good Innings: How One Small Town Became A Little League GiantAuthor: Mark KreidlerDate Published: 2008Genre: Non-Fiction

Six good innings was really a fascinating book. It takes place in Toms River, New Jersey, also known as the baseball factory for all the generations of baseball players it has produced. The Toms River Americans of 2006 had made an incredible run all the way through the state tournament. But after losing an unbelievable game, the season was over. Now, it's summer of 2Title: Six Good Innings: How One Small Town Became A Little League GiantAuthor: Mark KreidlerDate Published: 2008Genre: Non-Fiction

Six good innings was really a fascinating book. It takes place in Toms River, New Jersey, also known as the baseball factory for all the generations of baseball players it has produced. The Toms River Americans of 2006 had made an incredible run all the way through the state tournament. But after losing an unbelievable game, the season was over. Now, it's summer of 2007, and Toms River is the team to beat. But after unexpected injuries and a schedule of painstakingly difficult and demanding games, the only thought in their mind is whether they can even get out of the first tournament of the year.

The theme of Six Good Innings is that, although practice makes perfect, you can't practice for so long and so hard that you are exhausted halfway before your season is over. I believe this because in the summer of 2006, Toms River had practiced for 56 straight days before starting the season. And because of that, they had nothing left in them to use for the state tournament. Also stating that the kids are only 11, 12, or 13 years old just proves that they have limits.

This book is for anyone who has a vast passion for the sport as I do will enjoy reading this book. The author doesn't use a lot of dialogue in his book and this works well because there is a huge story to be told and if he had more dialogue, I think it would have dragged on. This book reminds me, beyond question, of Infield Hit because they both involve baseball and both books show problems being overcome.

"John was positive to the point of Pollyanna, and he was aware of his own tendencies; as he put it, "I'm the guy who sees rain outside and says, 'No! It's liquid sunshine!'" - Six good innings page 112.

This book has really inspired me to become better because they showed how much hard work and effort you have to put in to become the best. The only thing I think could have made it better was if the author spent more time describing the games and making it more suspenseful. Over all this was a very great book and I would recommend this to almost anyone....more

Six good innings could be an excruciating experience for a group of under-aged players who are about 12 years old. Little league baseball is a favorite activity for many families who spend many summer months playing and enjoying the game, and it is great for both kids and parents. But when the game becomes extremely competitive and demanding, the coaches and some parents could bring enormous amount stress on a growing child. Professional players and some college players areA league of their own

Six good innings could be an excruciating experience for a group of under-aged players who are about 12 years old. Little league baseball is a favorite activity for many families who spend many summer months playing and enjoying the game, and it is great for both kids and parents. But when the game becomes extremely competitive and demanding, the coaches and some parents could bring enormous amount stress on a growing child. Professional players and some college players are old and intelligent enough to handle extreme pressure for mental and athletic preparation for "win at all costs" strategy, but this is a little much for a 12 year old.

The author narrates the story as a sports commentator about a little league team of 12 year olds from Toms River NJ called Toms River Americans. At town's Little League eight fields, eight million dollar complex on Maple tree Road, if home runs aren't common then there is some thing seriously wrong with the team. One player believes that there is "no such thing as losing here." Coach John Puleo makes the players practice three plus hours even though he would have told parents only two hours. One has to work beyond exhaustion to improve a game by one percent. In the 2007 World Series championship game the players had to train 56 days straight, for hours a day! Going to World Series or playing in All Star tournament is not a straight path; the Toms River kids have to win district competition in seven games, and then the Section tournament, four such playoffs in the state of NJ and then State championship games leading to Mid-Atlantic Regional's and then one of the eight berths in the Little League World Series. It is a long way but surely the kids at Toms River are prepared; thanks to their coaching staff and enthusiastic parents!

The book is described more as a commentary to the preparation to World Series rather than as a story of a Little League team from a small town. This could be an interesting reading for motivation and dedication, but is this too much for a 12 year old to handle?

This book reminds me a lot of David Halberstam's "Summer of '49" or "October 1964" - it's a baseball book, ultimately focusing on a season or part of a season. Like Halberstam, Kreidler tells the story in real time, with many breaks for filling in the back story for a particular character. It's not always an exact alternate format for each chapter, but it's close.

Then, by the time you get to the climax, you know the stories behind all of the major characters and the last few chapters are told inThis book reminds me a lot of David Halberstam's "Summer of '49" or "October 1964" - it's a baseball book, ultimately focusing on a season or part of a season. Like Halberstam, Kreidler tells the story in real time, with many breaks for filling in the back story for a particular character. It's not always an exact alternate format for each chapter, but it's close.

Then, by the time you get to the climax, you know the stories behind all of the major characters and the last few chapters are told in a rush. I find it to be a great way to enjoy the story of a sports team. The weakness of Six Good Innings is that the reader isn't familiar with any of the characters... so while it might be interesting to learn more about Joe Dimaggio or Bob Gibson, you already know a little. That isn't the case here.

Still, Kreidler does a great job of introducing the characters and getting you to care about them. He tells the story of a little league all-star season (Toms River) when the team is in their age-12 year (the season they can go to the Little League World Series). The team has mostly been together since ages 9 or 10, and Toms River has a rich history of success in state and regional tournaments, so their expectations are high.

The coaches keep the goal in sight, handle setbacks and try to set expectations appropriately. If you think about it, this isn't a bad book for managers of any team, even those outside the sports world. The "little league parent" syndrome isn't on display as much as you'd expect for a team with such high expectations - is it really not there, or did Kreidler downplay it?

I enjoyed this book. It was a good story and a window into a level of competition I didn't know much about. It has great characters and heart-warming family moments, as well as enough baseball to keep a die-hard interested. ...more

Six Good Innings by Mark Kreidler is a book about a 12 year old baseball team who made it to the Little League World Series three times in five years. I would recommend this book to all sports fans and younger kids who are interested in baseball and who play baseball. It is a quick read if you are into sports and especially if you play baseball and watch the Little League World Series.

Overall this was a good book, if there were changes that could be made, one would be more explanantion of how thSix Good Innings by Mark Kreidler is a book about a 12 year old baseball team who made it to the Little League World Series three times in five years. I would recommend this book to all sports fans and younger kids who are interested in baseball and who play baseball. It is a quick read if you are into sports and especially if you play baseball and watch the Little League World Series.

Overall this was a good book, if there were changes that could be made, one would be more explanantion of how the team made it there and how the coaches made this league into such a good league and to have a good all star team. The author did a good job of telling a story of a team who wanted to win the Little League World Series.

I like how the author explained the scenarios the team came into during its ride to the World Series. Williamsport is a place where all Little Leaguers should visit to enjoy the experience. I liked how the book was a quick read because baseball is my favorite sport. All kids would enjoy this read and it is at a level where all kids can understand the story.

This book was very good and all sports fans should read it, it was a quick read and cool because i played on all star teams, so I could relate to this story. The book was interesting to see a Little League become a good all star team and compete in districts, sectionals, states, regionals, and then the Little League World Series....more

The book, the six good innings is very hard to understand at the start; however, when you get more into the story it gets easier to understand. The Toms River dynasty is the main team who had won the Little League World Series the year before and is coming back with a lot more pressure. The setting to this story is important because if you didn't know that they were playing baseball you would be confused on what the book was trying to say. The Toms River Dynasty won the championship game to getThe book, the six good innings is very hard to understand at the start; however, when you get more into the story it gets easier to understand. The Toms River dynasty is the main team who had won the Little League World Series the year before and is coming back with a lot more pressure. The setting to this story is important because if you didn't know that they were playing baseball you would be confused on what the book was trying to say. The Toms River Dynasty won the championship game to get to the Little League World Series barely because that year they raised the fence 2 feet and a kid hit the top of the fence. If the fence was still 4 feet tall it would have been a 3-run home run to win the game 8-7....more

The author follows a Little League all-star team through the course of the season as they try to make Williamsport. There's lots of pressure on the team as their town has had much success and the all-star team is returning after a good run the year before. Along the way, we learn what part fate plays in the team success. Injuries and growth spurts (or not) can make or break a team. Groups that gel one year may not gel the next.

Does bringing up Williamsport too early jinx your chances? Should boyThe author follows a Little League all-star team through the course of the season as they try to make Williamsport. There's lots of pressure on the team as their town has had much success and the all-star team is returning after a good run the year before. Along the way, we learn what part fate plays in the team success. Injuries and growth spurts (or not) can make or break a team. Groups that gel one year may not gel the next.

Does bringing up Williamsport too early jinx your chances? Should boys this age train all year round?

Toms River is home to one of the most historic liitle league baseball organizatons. They have won two world championships and have made several trips to Williamsport. Mark Kreidler follows one 12 year old team from Toms River from winter camp to tryouts to their final loss. This team doesn't make it to Williamsport but shows what kids can do for a communtity.

Requested this from the library because we were scheduled to attend a tournament in Toms River and I thought it would make it more interesting. Tournament is cancelled, but glad I read this nice piece of sports "journalism turned novel. Wish I had learned more about many of the side characters....likely a sign of a good story!

A sports writer and columnist, Mark Kreidler currently contributes to both ESPN.com and ESPN: The Magazine. He is the author of Four Days to Glory, Six Good Innings, and The Voodoo Wave. He lives in Davis, California.